The Duo of SAO
by Wrecker817
Summary: *Falls in line with SAO Timeline and canon* November 6th 2022 – All 10,000 players logged into Sword Art Online servers and learn of their new prison. An odd duo is formed after hardships. Kaori, a young and petite girl, and Aiden, a mid twenty year old who looks after her. Their journey is full of new friends, and lost ones. After all it's not easy to beat a death game.
1. Intro

**AN: This story will have a few things to know to help with the story at the beginning, most of these are used throughout the chapters. So if you don't remember what they mean then refer to a previous chapter or ask me in a PM :)**

November 6th 2022 – All 10,000 players logged into Sword Art Online servers and learn of their new prison.

December 4th 2022 – 1st floor boss is finally defeated. The players hope is renewed., however 2,000 people have already died.

February 2023 – 25th floor is cleared. Over half of the Aincrad Liberation Squad members are decimated. ALS leaves the front lines.

Words to know:

Niisan – Big brother

Baka – Idiot or stupid

Honorifics to know:

Chan - Mainly used for females, usually for younger females. Names are usually shortened.

Kun – Used for male friends and relatives.

Other Notes:

Despite my want to use honorifics, most players don't call each other with them inside of games. Players typically just say each other's username. Some make an exception to that however.

Ka-chan – pronouned Kay-chan

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><p><strong>March 16th 2023 – 17th Floor Towncenter<strong>

A little under six months had past since the day ten thousand players, looking for a new fun experience, became prisioners in a mans twisted idea of fun. Everyone handled the situation differently. Some killed themselves, some rushed the game causing them to die, but the majority held true. They stayed with and played the game as it was meant to be. And two of those characters were now on the seventeenth floor on a mission... well sort of.

"There aren't many shops on this floor Niisan. And the ones that are here aren't that usefull to us." A small girl named Kaori said. She was traveling in a now acustomed position, riding on the man's shoulders, the one she called her big brother. Kaori was no more than five feet tall and looked like she was about twelve or thirteen. She wore a full suit of smooth heavy armor on that honestly looked pretty funny, considering her size. Her jade tinted breast plate had a solid silver skull on the back of it. She wore a matching set of silver gauntlets and boots that both had a jade colored star on the top of them. Her blond, almost white, hair was in a single pony tail diagonally behind her head and lead about half way down her back. But the most unique thing about her, no doubt about it, were her eyes. The left, a strong jade iris, and the right, a silver iris.

"There's a good one around here that an old friend of mine recently opened. He chose this floor because of the lack of stores. 'Better buisiness' he said." The man, Aiden, replied to her with a smile. He was tall, probably around 6'2 and in his mid twenties. His short, vibrant, blond hair was sleeked back with a green streek straigh back his head. All while his strong yellow eyes looked down the road they walked on. He had a strong muscular build, that plus his height called for respect. Aiden wore an open green jacket that had the sleaves torn off at the shoulders. On the back of the jacket, a golden skull was branded in the center of his back. The jacket revieled his arms, chest and abs to their fullest, which considering his muscules, was a lot. His hands were wrapped up with several bandages going half way up his forearms, leaving only his fingertips exposed. His black pants had golden spirals leading down to heavy jade colored boots. Aiden was one of the lucky players who was able to recieve a unique skill. He completed the martial arts quest, thanks to Argo's information, and began only fighting with that, no other weapon. His dedication paid off, and he mysteriously got several other skills with it. Three different martial arts forms he could use to fight: Karate, Muay Thia and Jiu Jitsu.

"This isn't that weird stick of a guy who was trying to rip me off when we met is it?" Kaori asked acusingly to him.

"The very same Ka-chan. Don't worry, He knows how to take care of his friends. Just don't start a fight with him or anything." She scowled down at him and hit the top of his head, so he knew she was serious.

"Why? Do you think I'm going to lose or something?" Aiden gave off a hearty laugh at his small friends minor insecurities.

"On the contrary, I know you would demolish him. He's a good merchant but a lowsy fighter. That's why I'm trying to save him the humiliation." Kaori let out a sigh of acceptance.

"Fine. I won't start anything, let's just make this quick."

The two friends reached the door of the shop and Kaori hopped down from atop Aiden's shoulders, grabbing onto his hand. Upon entry the two got a rather odd welcome from the merchant. His name was Sten a very old friend of Aiden. Sten was about five ten and basically a stick of a man. He had a scruffy brown beard that looked more like he hadn't bothered to shave in a few days, rather than something he chose. His short, dark brown hair was spiked upwards. The strange merchant had decided curved blades was the way to go as he had a black bladed scimitar on his belt at the time. Complimenting his blade, he wore a tan leather armor set.

"Hey Aiden! How's it go-" The merchant stopped midsentance once he saw Kaori next to Aiden, simply staring at the girl.

"How's it go indeed Sten!" Aiden teased his friend. Noticing Sten's eyes fixated on Kaori, Aiden teased his friend. "You know it's pretty rude to just stare at a girl like that you crazy bastard."Aiden let go of Kaori's hand and walked over next to Sten, with only the counter inbetween them.

"Besides she promised not to beat the crap out of you for it!" Aiden exclaimed slapping Sten's back hard, causing him to stumble a bit, yet knocking him out of his fixed gaze. Kaori simply went to wander around the shop while the two men spoke.

"So Sten, how's buisness been so far?" Aiden asked his friend, despite the man still being somewhat hazy.

"It's uh... you know...it's a business." Aiden raised an eyebrow at the strange behavior.

"Hey. Are you feeling alright? What's gotten into you?" Aiden snapped his fingers in front of Sten's face, trying to change his awkward long stare from Kaori. "Look there's no reason to be scared of her, I already told her to play nice." Sten leaned on his counter, chin resting in his hands.

"Huh? What? I'm not scared, well maybe a little. B-but... but I think i'm in love with her!" Sten cried out. Kaori shivered in disgust while facing the corner.

"Baka." The disgustid girl mumbled to herself. Aiden bellowed out a laugh.

"You're joking right? There's no way I can let that happen. Besides she's not into sleezy merchants." Aiden teased his friend. Sten looked to the man with an annoyed glare and responded sarcastically.

"Hey thanks for the friendly support there Aiden. You're easily the best wingman a guy could ask for." Aiden crossed his arms glancing over to Kaori.

"Look there's a few things that make me say that. First you've only seen her twice and you weren't the nicest guy when you two first met. Second, you've got almost ten years on her." Sten sat up and looked at Aiden with a challenging face.

"Are you just stupid?" Aiden clenched his teeth.

"Be careful _friend,_ I sure would hate to have to hurt you." Sten waved his hand around Aiden.

"You couldn't hurt me hear if you tried so settle down, I only mean love has no boundries." Sten clasped his hands together. "Didn't you pay attention when we had to read Romeo and Juliet?" Aiden stood up and looked to the ceeling, one hand scratching the top of his head.

"That's the one where everyone dies at the end because of some stupid reason right?" Sten sighed at his freinds guess.

"You may be really strong but you certainly aren't the brains of your operation are you?" He shot at Aiden. "That's Macbeth but nice guess. Romeo and Juliet is the one where the two lovers dissobey their family to be with each other." Kaori walked over to the guys.

"I think you mean it's the one where the two idiot lovers kill themselves because they're to dumb to check for a pulse." She imputed, letting Aiden shrugged at his counterpart. "Also," Kaori continued. "That's about every single one of Shakespears plays Niisan. Everyone dies at the end because of one stupid reason or another." Sten shoulders and head sank in defeat.

Kaori placed a single hand on the counter, "Dont worry Sten," she started talking and pat the counter twice. "I may not want to be with you, but your company is amusing. So I can at least be your friend." Sten looked up and noticed a friend request from the girl. His smile beemed bright enough to rival the sun.

"Thank you Kaori-chan! I shall do all I can to proove I'm worth your heart!" Kaori stuck her index finger up, signifying to 'hold on.'

"Don't do anything weird, Baka, or ill remove you. And not just from my friends list." Sten's smiled dropped to an uncomfortable one, with the corner of his mouth twitching slightly.

"I see. Well on a different note, you two seem to be a rather impressive team. Kaori-san takes the beating while you do what exactly?" Sten questioned his friend. Aiden put his finger to the side of his nose with a large grin.

"The same thing I do in real life. I fight with my fists and feet." Sten leaned back against the wall, not really believing his friend.

"Uh huh. What ever you say there boss. And I actually use a laser gun." Aidens shoulders sank down.

"It's true, I've got a unique skill thanks to it too."

"Well I guess I'll just have to join you guys in your adventures to actually see for myself wont I?" Sten's cheeky smile shot to the duo. Kaori, not amused by his sly nature.

"If you're trying to join our party, then say so. Don't beat around the bush Baka." Sten's face showed an annoyed look, but an understanding one. He bowed his head and put his hands together above it.

"May I please join your party so we can all slay monsters together?!" Sten head a few beeps and then looked at his new notification, an invite from Aiden to join their party. He accepted the invite and lept into the air, fist thrusted high.

"Yahoo!" He cheared, feeling like he had just earned a great reward. Upon landing, something caught Sten's eye as well. "Hey wait a second. Are you two in a guild?" Sten asked looking at they symbol next to both their player icons. Aiden put both hands on his hips, now standing up straight.

"Yeah, we started it a few days ago. It's just us as of right now. This was actually the reason we came here today. We could always use a merchant in our guild. Care to join?" Aiden shot over an invite to Sten. Thinking only for a moment, he hit the accept. The new symbol appeared next to his name and he looked back to his new guildmates.

"Well then, as co-founder, allow me to formally accept you into «The Jade Skull»."

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><p><strong>End of Chapter 1! This will be a story that's roughly eight or maybe nine chapters. I want to know what you all think of the use of honorifics, it'll pick up in latter chapters with more characters introduced. So remember to leave a review for me please! :D<strong>


	2. Boss Raids?

February 2023 – The Knights of the Blood are formed and debut at the 26th floor boss meeting.

March 11th 2023 – The Jade Skull formed

March 16th 2023 – First member to join the JS, Sten

Terms to know:

Oi – A word to get someones attention, usually in a rude fashion.

Nii Nii (pronounced _nee nee) _ – a slang term for Niisan, rarely ever used. Mostly in an emotional state.

Honorifics to know:

Senpai – Generally somebody in the same social class, but superior to you.

San – A general term, used for those who don't know each other well.

**March 28th 2023 – Level 24 Outside of Panareze**

* * *

><p>"Ka-chan? What are you doing up there?" Aiden asked the girl on his shoulders as he felt a sudden heaviness on top of his head. "Oi! Did you fall asleep on me again?" He asked quietly.<p>

"No. Just resting. Now stop bouncing." The sleepy girl responded to him.

"Stop bouncing? What a strange thing to say to another person." Aiden said to himself. "Anyways that means I stop walking. We need to keep going. We have to make it to this meeting so we can help out with the boss fight." He tried reasoning with her.

"Fine fine fine. Just let me sleep until we get there." Kaori lightly bonked Aiden on the head and began to fall asleep again.

He continued on his way, passing and being passed by a few other players along the road. Some of them he couldn't recognize, others he knew based on their uniform. A girl and a few others following her, dressed head to toe in white and red armor, caught up to them. "The KoB?" Aiden said to himself. The rest of his thoughts only being said in his head. _No doubt heading to the meeting as well._ As they passed, the girl leading them turned and gave Aiden a smile. He stopped in his tracks, a little in shock, and so did she.

"Um excuse me for asking, but you wouldn't happen to be Asuna with the Knights of the Blood Oath would you?" Aiden asked quietly to her. She nodded to him.

"I am, it's a pleasure to meet you..."

"Aiden. And my sleeping companion here is Kaori. She's actually a bit of a fan of yours. Would you mind if I introduce you to her?" Asuna smiled and approved. Aiden turned around so his back was to Asuna and started to wake Kaori up.

"Hey, Ka-chan. Wake up. I've got somebody who wants to meet you." She grumbled and looked up from her resting place.

"There's nobody here. Stop waking me up Niisan. I'm tired." Aiden turned around so Kaori could see Asuna. The knight smiled at Kaori and waved to her.

"Hi there, it's a pleasure to meet you Kaori. My name's Asuna." Kaori began to turn bright red. She scrambled to get off of Aiden's shoulders, then pulled him away from her, hiding her blushing face from Asuna.

"Nii-Nii! Why did you wake me up now! This is so embarrassing. I can't believe you would do this to Kaori!" The bashful girl scolded Aiden as he rubbed his neck and smiled, trying to apologize to her.

"I thought you looked cute up there. It must be nice knowing you can sleep comfortably and safely in this world." Asuna cut in. Kaori looked past Aiden over to her. Looking as if she was about to cry, she ran over and hugged Asuna, catching her off guard.

"Thank you for being so forgiving! I'm sorry that giant fool had to introduce me so awkwardly! You're the best Asuna-senpai!" Asuna kept a smile on, despite being a little uncomfortable, and hugged her back. She looked over to Aiden.

"S-senpai? I've never been called a senpai before."

"That's normal for her. It took her a week to stop calling me that." Aiden explained, leaving Asuna smiling.

"Not a problem Kaori-chan, although you don't have to call me senpai. It's flattering, but unnecessary in here. You can just call me Asuna." Asuna pat Kaori on the head. Kaori's smile beamed at her and ran back to Aiden's side.

"Then you can call me Ka-chan, Asuna!" Asuna nodded with a smile to the small girl.

"Wait why did you stop calling her that so quickly?" Kaori's innocent face looked at Aiden, and in a completely monotone voice she replied, "I like her more, duh." Aiden dropped to the floor, but then started to stand up again.

"So Asuna," Aiden, changing the subject. "are you and the other KoB headed to the boss raid meeting as well?" Asuna placed one hand on her hip and turned to her fellow knights.

"We are. I'm hoping this fight won't be a difficult one. However we've been a bit slower in clearing the floors lately. Although we have made remarkable progress, and almost nobody has died in the fights. This one should be a breeze as well and we'll get out of this prison in no time." She finished and her attention was back to the duo in front of her.

"I see. Well the Knights of the Blood made a grand spectacle at the last meeting. So I'm sure this one will be interesting as well. Shall we keep talking as we head on to the meeting?" Aiden offered to their newest friend.

"I would love to travel with Asuna!" Kaori shot up, only to feel the heat rise in her cheeks. "Er... w-we would I mean." Asuna covered her mouth to hide her laughter. "Your company will always be welcome Ka-chan." Asuna said through her laughter. The embarrassed girl sent off another bright smile to the girl she idolized. The new group began walking along the path reaching the meeting point in a few minutes. The meeting was in a large open stone room with a destroyed wall on one end. One person sat away from the rest of the group, against said wall. A man in a black cloak.

"Asuna-san, is that Kirito? The so called 'Beater'?" Aiden asked the Knight.

"Eh? Oh yeah that's him. He comes to these meeting and usually sits away from others to avoid conflict. Not a lot of people like him because of that title. However he still fights with us on the front lines, despite the others attitude and helps us win. He's a good guy, and very nice." Asuna explained. Aiden placed both hands behind his head and slowly walked over to Kirito.

"Hmmm, I see. Ka-chan, can you go with Asuna-san for a minute? I want to talk to him." Kaori nodded to him as Aiden slowly got closer to Kirito, which the swordsman noticed quickly.

"Oi!" Aiden's sudden outburst to the man caused him to jump a little.

"Eh... h-hi there. Can I help you?" Kirito asked with a confused look upon his face.

"I simply came for the meeting. But then I saw you over here and decided to talk to you." Aiden explained sitting down next to him.

"You want to talk to me? People may not like you as much if they see you fraternizing with a Beater." Kirito warned the large man, gesturing towards some other players who glared at both of them.

"And I could care less of what others think of me." Aiden quickly replied shooting intimidating glares back to those staring at him. "I respect you, so I wanted to meet you. Ka-chan respects Asuna-san so she wanted to meet her. It's that simple." Aiden began laying back in his make shift seat. Kirito wasn't so relaxed, rather confused.

"Ka-chan?" Aiden pointed over to the girl as she spoke with Asuna.

"She's the small crazy one over there next to Asuna-san. Her name is Kaori and she's my partner."

"I see. Then you wouldn't mind me asking for your name then would you? You do have me at a disadvantage." Kirito asked, turning towards the large man.

"Where are my manners." Aiden sat up and looked to Kirito. "I come to talk to somebody and I don't even introduce myself." He gestured a thumb towards his face and with a wink, introduced himself. "Name's Aiden, martial arts extraordinaire!"

"A pleasure. And I don't mean to sound rude, but did you want to talk to me about anything in particular?" Aiden put on one hell of a serious face.

"I want to get inside of the head of the person who took on a derogatory phrase like 'Beater' and turned it into a compliment. Why would someone who cared about others, make it so they stayed away from him?" Kirito looked back to the man with a raised eyebrow.

"What happened in that fight Kirito." Aiden leaned in closer. "I'm friends with Agil in real life and he still didn't really tell me. On the first floor boss room, many rumors have spread around about you. You don't have to answer my previous question. I'm simply voicing my mind right now. Personally I think what you do with yourself in this game is your choice." After Aiden finished, he rolled backwards back up to his feet.

"Oh... well thanks. I guess." Kirito said scratching his head.

"However. There are those that care for you Kirito. Even if you don't know it yet. Join a guild or party up with Asuna, she's rather impressive. Protect them. Let them protect you." Aiden smiled over to Kirito.

"I don't see what your point of this is. What are you trying to tell me?" Kirito questioned the large man. Aiden crouched down, almost making Kirito uncomfortable with how close their faces were to each other.

"You're reckless." Aiden said dryly followed by a smile. "And just that if you ever need a friend or some help, feel free to ask me or my partner Kaori. After all, nobody needs to do everything alone." Aiden stood back up and dropped down his menu. He found Kirito's name and sent a friend request. Soon after he walked away back to Kaori, leaving Kirito the privacy to decide for himself.

"Just keep that in the back of your head my friend. A pleasure meeting you." Aiden said as he walked away. He soon rejoined Kaori and Asuna.

"What was that all about?" Asuna asked him. Aiden simply shrugged and smiled at her.

"We'll find out in time I guess." Asuna sighed at his comment

"Very well. It's not my place to pry."

"Don't worry Asuna." Kaori said grabbing the side of her uniform, drawing her attention. "He does that often, but it usually mean something good." She explained to the rapier wielder.

"Well if you say so Ka-chan, then I believe you. Anyways, it's about that time. Let's get this meeting started!" Asuna and the rest of the KoB went to the center of the room, drawing everyone's attention and silencing the voices.

"Alright everyone. A few days ago, a small guild discovered the 27th floor boss room. They all went inside of the room, and found the boss. It's a large Metallic Elemental. All they did was peek. The plus side is they got away with everyone alive." The meeting carried on for a few more minutes, only to end in an argument between Asuna and Kirito about how the fight should go down. After another fifteen minutes of arguing the meeting came to a final decision and closed.

"Well Niisan, I think that could have gone a little better." Kaori said watching the players leave.

"Well the way I see it, those two just need some time together. They're very similar after getting to talk to them individually." Aiden thought as he watched Kirito leave the room behind everyone else.

"You know, you can't be reading into peoples minds like that. I think you need a degree for that." Kaori teased.

"Hey school is just a huge waste of time in my opinion. People just need to find a rich wife like I did." Aiden said defending himself. He soon felt the stinging sensation of a slap on the back of his leg, causing him to stumble down to one knee.

"Oi, Kaori be careful! That one kind of hurt!" He turned to see Kaori in position to climb up his back as the only word to leave her mouth was "Baka" Aiden became use to a sigh of defeat almost as much as blinking. Kaori finished climbing on his shoulders. And they came out of the structure.

"So what shall we do for the rest of the night? It could be our last." Kaori said staring up at the now night sky.

"Well I heard about this pub that has a few games in it that we could play. We can grab Sten and spend it having some fun." Aiden offered looking up to his small friend.

"Nah. I want a peaceful night. No loud games, no Baka, just a peaceful night. Why don't we just go to that safe zone that has a sky view."

"Hmmm not a bad idea. Just try and get some sleep this time."

"I'll try. Can I sleep on the way there?"

"Of course Ka-chan, get some rest."

Aiden walked on towards the safe zone carrying his small friend up top. He thought to himself about the next day. "_I'm going to make sure you get through this Ka-chan, you've lost enough. And I'll make sure you have a happy life once more."_

* * *

><p>March 28th 2033 – Meeting to clear the 27th floor boss took place.<p>

**March 29th 2023 – 27th Floor Boss Room Corridor**

"Alright, looks like everyone's here." Asuna said to the group of twenty five or so players in front of her each with their weapons drawn and ready. Only a handful didn't have their weapons drawn, including Aiden, Kirito and Asuna. Kaori however held onto a massive two handed war hammer. It's shaft had a silver and jade spiral leading up to the top of it. The hammer itself had a massive silver flat head that looked like it weighed more than Kaori herself. It had a jade colored skull engraved into it on it's sides that, due to the silver nature of the hammer, made it look like it had piercing silver eyes.

"The Knights of the Blood will be directing this mission. However make sure to always watch your HP and that of your parties. Let's all make it back from this without losing anyone." Asuna finished her speech and received a small cheer from everybody. She opened the door and all the players ran inside, starting to form a perimeter. Looking around the players saw a forge in the back along with ore rich walls.

"Oi! Has the boss been beaten or something?" A player called out.

"No he's here. Look over at the forge." Kirito said, pointing at the now operating forge. Slowly, the ore that was in the wall dropped into the forge. Lava flew out of it as each piece dropped into it.

"Oh good, I was hoping to have a boss that has to build himself." Aiden tried to joke, receiving a laugh from nobody except for Kaori.

"I just want you to know that I'm only laughing at Niisan because nobody thinks your funny." Aiden hung his head down and anime esque tears fell from his eyes.

"None of you are nice to me."

"LOOK!" A player shouted and everyone's attention was back on the forge. A massive metal like arm slammed into the ground, followed by a body.

"Everyone get ready, it's coming!" Kirito shouted out. The boss emerged from the forge. A massive black, four legged creature that look like solid rock, yet liquid. It's five red eyes pierced through each player.

«Orelund» It's name and dark red icon finally showed above.

"Yeah! It's party time!" Aiden shouted out smashing his fists together. As he did, two golden metal gauntlets appeared on his hands, each with a jade colored skull on top of his fists. They had large spikes on the knuckles and large sickles running down the length of each gauntlet.

"Alright everybody! Attack!" Asuna yelled, causing all the players to rush in, each party made of five players, two teams in front of it and three in the back. The two teams in front of it that drew it's aggro to control it, all had massive shields to block it's arms from smacking them away. In the meantime three other teams we're hitting the boss from all other sides. Continuously stabbing, slashing, cutting, and smashing it, four bars of health dropped rapidly down to only one. Then suddenly it stopped moving and turned into a solid rock like creature. Despite the players best attempts nobody hurt it.

"What's going on?" A girl yelled out. "Did we beat it?" Another player called out.

"It hardened it's body. More than likely to regenerate it's health. That would explain why we were able to take it down so fast." Kirito responded.

"Man we haven't fought a boss like this yet! This parties going crazy!" Aiden shouted, clearly the only one happy about the new boss type.

"We need to be ready, take this time to heal up." Asuna called to the group. Cracks began to form all over the bosses body. Soon, the entire creature exploded and sent metal fragments all out, heavily damaging all players unfortunate enough to not dodge or block them. The creature was now at three bars of health again, but also a different form and name. It now took the form of something like a three headed dragon like creature. It had no wings or hind legs, simply two arms and a tail. It's purple almost black hide amplified the red eye it bore at everyone in the room. All three of the heads looked up to the ceiling and shot fire up to it. Fire hit the ceiling igniting the entire room, leaving only the ground to not be ablaze. And finally a new name appeared over it's head.

«Hydraxious»

"Well this is a thing." Aiden commented on the transformed boss.

"Yeah but it's nothing we can't handle." Kaori said next to him. Aiden shot her a cheeky smile.

"Let's kill this damn thing!" He shouted. Everyone proceeded to charge it once again and lay into it. The monster began to adapt however. The three different heads acted as three different bosses, each fighting different groups that attacked it. The tank classes drawing the aggro was no longer a suitable strategy. Suddenly one of the players hitting the back side of it noticed something odd.

"Uh guys! We got a problem back here!" The player shouted. Aiden turned to see the man and his group back away from it's tail. "It's not taking any damage back here!" Another member of his group shouted out.

"It only takes damage if you hit one of the heads! Each head has it's own health bar as well!" Kirito told the raid party. The players started moving around to the front of it and focused on it's three heads. The boss periodically shot large blasts of fire at the group forcing them to stagger backwards. Taking advantage of the situation, the middle head reached forward, jaws ready to bite down.

"Be careful, don't get to close to it's mouth!" Aiden called to those in his group, now facing danger. Not fast enough though. It reached out and picked up a player in it's mouth and began crushing him high in the air. The man saw his end coming and frantically cried out.

"Help me! Aaaaahhhhh!" Thinking only to save his teammate Aiden charged the boss. His fists began glowing a radiant blue as he ran towards it. Once close enough he leapt into the air next to the jaw holding the man. He repeatedly punched away at the jaw, fists as fast as a machine gun, until it dropped the man. After the barrage he checked it's remaining health, only a bar and a half left on it after the continuous assault from all the players. Before he was even able to land on the ground the boss swung around and hit him with it's tail. The impact sent him across the room, slamming hard into the fire wall and dropping down to the ground with a thud.

"Nii Nii!" Kaori yelled as she ran over to him. He slowly started to get back up as she got to him. His health was in the red. "Heal!" She yelled out as she held a crystal next to him. As his health bar went back up she gave off a sigh of relief and rolled him over, holding his head in her lap.

"Baka! That move is to risky on a boss! You almost died!" Kaori yelled at him with a feint tear in her eye.

"I know I know, I'm sorry. But I managed to save that guy. That's good right?" He asked his friend with a weak smile.

"Yeah... but I would be all alone without you. I don't want to loose another Niisan. So try and be smarter you dummy." Kaori said with more tears in her eyes. Aiden sat up on his own and put a hand on her head.

"Niisan isn't going anywhere just yet. So let's go finish this fight." Kaori smiled at her friend. Standing up she turned to face the boss. Grabbing her hammer with both hands Kaori charged the boss, her hammer began glowing yellow. She slammed her hammer up into the center heads jaw and followed up with a jump over the head and by slamming it back down. This was just what was needed to drop the boss's middle health bar to nothing, leaving the first and second in the yellow and red respectively. With that, the head dropped down as if dead. The two remaining heads screeched out and shot another barrage of fire at the players.

"Hold your ground this time! Don't let it push you back! We can do this!" Asuna yelled to her comrades. Kirito and Asuna ran at the head still in yellow, hitting it was a continuous barrage of rapid strikes. If they were one person people would be really impressed with the fifteen hit combo the two of them pulled off together. Soon following, the head dropped leaving only the head in the red left. The boss stepped back into the corner of the inferno room with the players cornering it, they started closing in on it. Just like that a fast large object ran past the group and began throwing machine gun like punches into the creatures head. "You're mine!" Aiden yelled at the creature. It's health nearly depleted, he started spinning rapidly with a glowing red foot and threw a ferocious kick into the side of the hydra's head. After Aiden landed on the ground, «Hydraxious» let out one last howl before the third head dropped down and the entire creature burst into blue data polygons.

**Congratulations!**

The banner dropped down over his head.

"Great work everyone! It looks like we all made it through this one as well. Thanks to Aiden-san for saving Habari-san anyways." Asuna praised the group and Aiden. The man who was about to be eaten, Habari, stepped towards Aiden who was now crouched on the ground. Habari held out his hand.

"Yeah, seriously man. Thanks for saving my skin back there." Aiden waved his hand back at him, as if shooing him away.

"Shhh." Aiden said as he continued to stare at the drop screen menu in front of him.

"Um... I'm sorry?" Habari asked looking at the other players, just as confused as he. Kaori walked up behind Aiden and punched him hard in the back of the head.

"HEY! What the hell was that for! That hurt!" Aiden said turning around while holding the back of his head.

"You're being rude Niisan. So now tell everyone what you got." Kaori ridiculed the large man as if he were a child. He looked around at the others who were shooting him a strange look. Aiden smiled devilishly and shot up, hands on his hips.

"I haven't the slightest idea what it is!" Everyone else in the room simply collapsed out of grief. They all waved it off as nothing making Aiden slouch down and pretend to cry.

"None of you are nice to me." Asuna walked over to him with a smile and pat his back.

"Well anyways, good job on beating the boss you two. Let's head through the gate to the next floor shall we?" She said as she started walking away from the group towards the activation portal. Everyone else followed behind her, through the newly activated portal, except for Kirito, Kaori and Aiden. Kirito turned to the duo.

"Not many know about the martial arts quest. Those that do either can't complete it or ignore it. And kicking isn't something that you learn from the skill either." Aiden met his gaze.

"Guess I've been found out. Once I completed the quest all I could think of was fighting with my fists. So, I threw away my sword and focused on this. It was really dangerous at first. But soon I got a series of martial arts skills in my skills tree. Karate, Muay Thai and Jiu Jitsu. Once I started using those the mobs I fought were no challenge at all. Besides, I kind of figured it would make this game more interesting if I fought with my hands and feet rather than a sword." Aiden put on a big dorkish smile, making Kirito shake his head at the large man.

"Well it's rather impressive. Just try not to draw to much attention." Kirito turned and headed towards the gate, waving back to them.

"I like him." Aiden said blankly. Kaori let out a loud sigh and walked through the gate as well leaving Aiden all alone. He sank down once more.

"None of you are nice to me."

* * *

><p><strong>There we go! Chapter two, I'm trying a different writing style with this one. All to see how it goes over. The next chapter is a big one, so look forward to it! ;D<strong>


	3. A House, A Dungeon and Some Twins

April 8th – Kirito joins Moonlit Black Cats

June 22nd – Front lines get through the 30th floor

June 22nd 5:45 pm – Death of the Moonlit Black Cats

Terms to know:

Hai – Yes

Ohayo – Good morning

Sayonara – Goodbye

* * *

><p><strong>August 5th 2023 – 29th Floor Candlelight Inn<strong>

Early in the morning, Aiden wakes up inside his room at the inn.

"I guess it's time to get up." He stood up and changed out of his sleep wear, equipping his comfortable clothes, a green t-shirt and tan pants, keeping his tough jade boots on. He looked in the mirror and checked his hair. "I wonder if people ever have bed head in this world." He asked noticing his practically flawless hair. The topic didn't keep his interest for long as he left his room and walked to the one across from his.

*knock knock*

"Hai?" A sleepy voice called back to him.

"Ohayo! Ka-chan. Are you up yet?" Aiden asked, placing his hands on his hips.

"Ohayo Niisan. I've been up all night. The beds here suck." Kaori said as she opened the door for Aiden. He looked down to her and couldn't help but laugh. She pulled him into the room and quickly closed the door behind them, all while trying to quell his laughter.

"Shut up, it was a really rough night." She said, defending her appearance. Her hair looked as if she had just got shocked by electricity, it stood up in every and all directions. Heavy bags were under her eyes as well. She was wearing a large white t-shirt and some green shorts under it.

"Alright alright, I'm sorry." Aiden started to apologize. "What was wrong with your bed? Mine was fine." He questioned her.

"I just told you already, it sucks. I've had comfier beds in lower level areas." She said kicking her mattress. "You would think for as expensive as this inn is we could get a decent bed here too, or at least breakfast. But I guess that's to much to ask!" Kaori was clearly heavily sleep deprived and grumpy on top of that. Aiden scratched his head in confusion.

"How can you tell the differences in beds? The game makes it all simulate, so you just sleep then wake up." Kaori looked at him with a glare that would make undead type monsters run away.

"Well I guess we can check in to a different inn if you want tonight." Aiden offered as an option, hoping it would help get him out of the current situation.

"No." Kaori fumbled with her hands to think of how to ask him and decided being blunt was the best way. "I want us to get a house." To which Aiden thought she was joking.

"Well that's an amusing idea. Come on, get dressed so we can start our day, we'll look for an inn later tonight." He turned to leave the room but felt Kaori grab his wrist with both hands, stopping him from leaving. As he turned to look at her and saw a very sad look in her two colored eyes, almost like a neglected pet that wanted attention.

"Ah jeez, not with the puppy dog eyes again." Aiden put his free hand over his eyes, but still peaked at the girl through two separated fingers.

"Niisan, let's find a house. Please?" Aiden caved in and put a light smile on. He grabbed her hands in his own.

"Okay. Get dressed, then we'll go look for one." After hearing the approval, Kaori became revitalized and jumped to hug him.

"Thank you Nii Nii! I can't wait!" He hugged her back then left the room so she could have some privacy. A few minutes later she came out with her hair in it's pristine ponytail and wearing a green dress that went down to her calves. It had white flowers flowing down the side that wrapped around to the front. She wore a large white sun hat to compliment it all.

"Well doesn't Ka-chan look cute. But we're going house shopping, not on your first date." Aiden teased the girl as her cheeks puffed out in a pouting fashion. He held his hands up to her signifying he gave up. "Okay you win, but seriously do you really want to wear a dress while riding on my shoulders?" He asked her, a little concerned what others may see. She stared at him annoyed and shook her head.

"B-baka... It's fine. I planned to walk today." Kaori walked up next to him and grabbed his hand.

"Alright then. What floor were you thinking of? Do you want to start at the bottom and work up? Or should we just go straight to Sten?" Aiden offered her as they started walking down the stairs of the inn.

"I had a few levels in mind. They seem nice enough and hopefully not to expensive. Can we go check a few out before we see Sten?" Aiden shrugged at her notion.

"I don't see why not." He briefly said.

"Great! Let's start at floor eleven, I saw a cool place there we can check." Kaori's excitement was unrivaled at this point. It was as if a kid had got everything they truly wanted at Christmas in the middle of July. The two made it out the door and started heading towards the warp gate.

"Well I guess if we want a house, we might as well start in a city." Aiden pointed out as they stood on the teleporter. Then, at the same time they both shouted out.

"Teleport Taft!"And just like that they were gone from the 29th floor and down to the 11th. Once they got through the gate they saw a familiar face, who was passing by.

"Eh... Kirito? Long time no see. What are you doing down here?" Kaori asked their friend.

"Oh. Hey there. I-I'm just passing through." Kirito said emptily while the two stepped down from the gate. Aiden and Kaori exchanged a glance.

"You alright there man?" Aiden asked his strange acting friend.

"Hai." That was the last thing Kirito said before leaving the two.

"Niisan..." Kaori started.

"I know. I'll leave this one to you. In the mean time, I'll go look for a house on a lower level. You can check this area when you're done. Sayonara." Aiden said saluting a good by with two fingers next to his head. He walked over to the teleport gate and called out.

"Teleport Lobaria!" And just like that, Aiden was off to the fourth floor. Kaori turned and began running after Kirito. She had hopes he wasn't to far off ahead. Sure enough, just on the other side of the small market center he was there, slowly wandering as if he was dead. She followed him, trying to be as discrete as possible, but her hide skill wasn't that high at all. For a time it worked. But Kirito stopped occasionally, she knew he was aware of her presence. Then Kirito turned down an alley. He walked just far enough down and stopped once more to call out.

"I know you're following me. You should just come out." Kirito turned to face his pursuer and sure enough Kaori came into the alley to see him, much to his surprise.

"You weren't the one I thought was following me." Kirito said with some relief. Kaori walked up to him.

"Who did you think it was?" She asked him.

"It doesn't matter. Why are you following me?" He quickly shut her question out, something she found intriguing, but decided to leave it alone for today.

"I wanted to see what was wrong with you. You're not your normal self and I thought I could help." His face became blank and he turned back around.

"You can't help. Just leave me alone. I'm a solo player after all." Before he could get to far, Kaori closed the distance between them, grabbing onto his arm and stopping him. She took a deep breath to gain her composure.

"You lost somebody didn't you?" Kirito, shocked by her accuracy, froze in place.

"I understand." Kaori continued. "It's not something you can get past easily. But I'm sure you'll be able to. After all, you're the strongest solo player around." Kirito turned to see Kaori. The small girl now had tears forming in her eyes.

"In the real world I was never into these games. I preferred to be outside or something else. But my Niisan wanted me to play with him. So we picked up two copies of SAO together. When this all started..." Kaori paused for a moment to clear the tears from her eyes and the lumps in her throat.

"About two weeks in he wanted to clear the game as quickly as possible. But it cost him his life." Kirito stared at the ground with a saddened look on his face. He may have his own sadness to deal with but now the feeling that he made Kaori bring up such a painful memory was predominant.

"I didn't know what to do." Kaori continued. "I gave up. Selling all my gear one piece at a time. I didn't want anything to do with this game. But suddenly, a new person came into my life. Aiden." Kaori looked up to Kirito, still crying, but with a smile on.

"That baka, he always has a smile on. Even though we're in a death game. Says he's just grateful he can't hear his mother in law constantly telling him he's a free loader. Even though he really is." Kaori wiped away the reformed tears in her eyes. "I needed Aiden to help me when I lost my Niisan. And soon after Aiden became my new Niisan. You just need to find somebody to protect you is all. Just don't think nobodies there for you. You have plenty of friends that care for you. Like Aiden and I... even Asuna-san cares and I'm sure you have others." Kaori gave Kirito a firm hug and quickly let go.

"I'll see you around Kirito. Be safe!" Kaori ran off leaving Kirito, and for a split second, he had a smile. As Kaori made her way back through the market, she came to a stop to get rid of the last of her tears. "If Niisan new I was crying he would be really upset. Got to get it together." She pulled down her friends list and tracked Aiden's location.

"Fourth floor? I guess if we're going to find a home, I should finish checking this floor. The search for a new house turned out to be a bust. And after a few hours the two friends met back on the seventeenth floor inside of Sten's shop.

"So you're looking for a house huh? Do we even have enough col for that yet?" Sten asked his fellow guild members.

"Yeah we do for a small house. It's not much but it can get us a few different houses on lower levels. Or we could save up a bit more and get a bigger house on a higher level." Aiden explained to his friend.

"Well. We are all in a guild. Why don't we get a guild house up higher? There cheaper than actual houses and bigger. Then the money we have left over we can use to decorate." Sten's offer took Aiden and Kaori back a little, but his logic was sound.

"Why didn't we think of that?" Aiden tried asking rhetorically, looking up at the ceiling.

"Because you're dumb," Sten quickly quipped. He closed the distance between Kaori and himself, grabbing her hands and easily breaking her comfort zone. ",but I'm sure Ka-chan already thought of it, she just wants a life of luxury though. Which I can provide." Kaori backed away a bit, but Sten still held onto her hands with a creepy smile. Aiden came and grabbed Sten's head with one hand.

"Sten, I thought I told you to leave her alone." Sten turned to see his friend, but instead of Aiden's normal look, he looked like a shadow monster with terrifying yellow eyes. After a few girlish shrieks, Sten retreated behind his counter to where he felt safe.

"Back to the subject at hand," Aiden trying to get back on track. ",a guild house would make it nicer. But how much col could you add to ours?" He asked the merchant.

"Well you guys have around three million right? I could make yours up to at least five million." Sten crossed his arms with a rather arrogant smile.

"How do you have two million col just from selling general junk and crappy items?" Aiden questioned his sincerity. Sten glared over to him.

"Well for your information I would sell my shop and move it up to the floor we were going to. So with all that, we could have a guild house and a merchants shop in the same place." Aiden placed his hands on the back of his head and looked around the place.

"What do you think Ka-chan?" He asked the girl sitting on top of the counter now, yet as far from Sten as she could muster.

"Well... as long as that baka's room is on the other side of the building from me then that's fine."

"Your words wound me fair maiden but I know you mean well!" Sten's comment gave off a small chorus of hurl like noises. Sten, doing his best to ignore the understandable yet rude noises, got excited about the new place to be.

"Alright!" Sten jumped into the air and threw his fist up.

"Well then, let's go buy a house." On that note, the group headed out to search for their new house.

* * *

><p>August 5th – Jade Skull decides to get a household on the 35th floor.<p>

November – ALfheim Online is created.

**December 1st 2023 – 40th Floor Wasteland Dungeon**

Deep inside the dungeon of the 40th floor, the small guild of the Jade Skull was leveling against some mobs while on a quest. It was another training day for Sten as well. He started to get the hang of the fighting system and how to use sword skills, however bravery certainly wasn't his forte. Shortly after they bought their house, Aiden met up with Argo and found out about a hidden room on the 40th floor, where the chest had some crazy rare weapon. They fought their way into the dungeon, fighting against different undead type monsters, ranging from skeletons types to zombie types and any grotesque thing in between. The most common being the «Wasteland Warrior» a skeletal type monster. What they carried varied from a mace to a straight sword, but in the opposite hand they always had a small buckler as a shield. Sten was currently fighting one of these monsters now, with his guild members backing him up. Well sort of.

"Guys really, I could use a little help here!" Sten called frantically to his friends, despite his health still being well into the green. Aiden stood behind him, arms crossed, and smiling at his friend.

"Sten don't be so timid, these things are a much lower level than you. You're doing fine." Aiden instructed and encouraged at the same time.

"That's easy for you to say! You don't mind fighting these gross creeps! Ah!" Sten ducked under a swing from the monsters mace, and immediately swung a hit back at the creature, dropping it's HP down into the yellow.

"See? You've almost got it, just use a sword skill and then you've won." Aiden turned around to find Kaori. He found her using her massive hammer to crush multiple skeletal creatures with one swing downwards, no thanks to her vast skill set of AoEs. Aiden enjoyed watching one of his friends devastate these monsters, while the other honestly seemed afraid of them. He turned back right as Sten got hit in the chest, loosing a small portion of his health.

"Sten be careful! If you're not going to use a shield you need to evade as much as possible." Aiden's tutoring of Sten had come a long way. The odd merchant had almost maxed out all of his skills involving mercantile life, but his actual level wasn't moving fast at all. Sten managed to defeat the monster and sat down from weariness. Aiden came and crouched next to him and pat his back a few times.

"Nice work buddy! I guess now I can tell you that skeletal types don't get damaged very much from slash or cutting attacks." Sten looked up to his tall friend with a goofy smile, with annoyance. As much as he wanted to hit him, the fight got him some decent experience and money.

"That's why Ka-chan over there is destroying them with one or two hits, they're weak to blunt type weapons. Every monster has a weakness to one type and strength to another. Undead, rock, and metal type monsters are typically weak to blunt and bashing type hits. Where as insect, humanoid, serpent, and most other monsters are weak to slashing and cutting type hits. Only a few types have no weaknesses and strengths. Those are the toughest enemies and typically bosses and named monsters. Come on, that's enough SAO lessons for today, we should be getting near this hidden room." The small guild wandered on through the halls of the dungeon, fighting against the occasionally respawn of mobs. After an hour of back tracking trying to find this hidden room, boredom, as of other things, started setting in.

"So are we even certain this is a legit thing? I mean, everyone knows Argo is a good info broker, but has anyone actually seen this place?" Sten's groans kept flowing, Kaori and Aiden did their best to ignore him but some times were harder than others.

"Sten. Enough okay, we get it." Aiden turned his gaze back to his merchant friend briefly. "This place is hard to find, I wouldn't have had to pay so much for it if it weren't. But there's something I'm certain we're missing, a quest item, NPC, something, I don't know." Kaori slowed her pace down to match Sten's speed.

"Sten, we're getting a good amount of experience, you've leveled up twice even. It's a good day even if we don't find anything." She tried her best to bring the man's spirits back up. But his insentient moaning continued.

"Look I don't mind grinding for experience. I've learned and gained a lot. I just don't like looking for a specific thing, and not finding it for so long." Aiden stopped walking, not moving a muscle. Kaori took a step towards him and tried to understand.

"What-"

"Quiet." Aiden violently shut her down, facing her holding his finger to his lips, asking for silence. His eyes twitched and he looked down the dark tunnel and noticed several torches coming towards them.

"We have company, there's seven of them in total." Aiden finally said to his group. The larger group finally came into full site of them and Aiden was able to look at them. They all were wearing random arrangements of armor except one mans armor stood out. He was wearing intimidating black plate armor and held a spear over his shoulders. His shaggy strawberry blond hair was draped down covering his eyes occasionally. He looked like the leader of the group and stepped toward the Jade Skull.

"Well well well, look what we have here, you're the Jade Skull guild aren't you?" His unsettling cheerful voice called out to them.

"So what if we are?" Aiden called back, completely monotone.

"Well I'm just happy to finally meet you face to face." The man stepped forward towards Aiden. "I mean, you have made quite a name for yourselves in the boss raids as of late. I figured I should meet you at some point." The man was getting closer to Aiden, but stopped and kept out of arms reach. Aiden looked down to the shorter man and smirked.

"Your name is Yohara if I recall. Name's Aiden, it's pleasure to meet you, but we're on a tight schedule so I think we'll be going." Aiden started walking past the man, followed by Kaori and Sten. Yohara smiled and began laughing out loud.

"Oh, I don't think so, we just met. Why don't we have a chat." The other six members of the group formed a blockade, stopping the Jade Skull's movements. Aiden dropped his head and clenched his fists tightly. Kaori and Sten walked up close behind Aiden, leaving no distance between them. Yohara spun around on his heal and faced the group.

"You see, _Aiden,_" Yohara spat. "You all seem to be in real favor of that trash beater. I think you guys should rethink who you associate yourselves with. Not to mention that KoB bitch, Flash. Most people in the raids hate those two in particular. But you came in and made yourselves all buddy buddy with them."

"Man... you're just... just..." Aiden tried thinking.

"Baka." Kaori helped out.

"Yeah! Thanks Ka-chan. But seriously, who doesn't like Asuna? She's one of the most popular people in all of Aincrad." Aiden placed a hand over his face to hide his laughter, leaving Yohara fuming.

"Shut it you piece of shit!" Aiden's laugh dropped and he turned to look at the irritable man.

"But that's what this is about? Because we don't like the same people?" He responded to the potential threat. A distant noise stopped the conversation as they all looked around to see where it was coming from. A grinding like sound, confused most of the players, resulting in quiet talks between the six members blocking the way. After noticing the noise was still going, Yohara finally decided to ignore it.

"Hmmm, well when you say it like that you make us seem like really bad people. But yeah, more or less. Also because ya look like you have some nice gear. I've always found taking has always been more fun than giving." Yohara's smile hadn't dropped and it seemed to only grow. Aiden knew what was coming and he gently pushed Kaori behind him and whispered to her.

"Kaori." She looked up to him and knew he was dead serious. "I want you to teleport out of here. Right now." Kaori quickly tried to grab a crystal and called out.

"Teleport Mishe!" She yelled, only to stay exactly where she is." Yohara took note to her actions.

"Well look at that, you can't teleport here. Thanks for the helpful tip, as a reward we'll kill you fast. Now, should we get this started?" The group of seven readied their weapons for an attack. Sten and Aiden switched sides and stood back to back with Kaori in the middle, Sten facing Yohara, Aiden facing the other six. Aiden spoke to his group.

"We're getting out of this. I'll make sure of it."

* * *

><p>Two girls wandered the halls of the 40th floor, Ryo and Nene. Ryo was a scary girl that often drew most players away from her. Typically looming over those she looks down upon with a dark aura, even if they're taller. A slender girl, Ryo's around the age of seventeen standing at five and a half feet, with straight brown hair that covers her left eye, and barely went down to her shoulders. She has a serious yet bored look in her blue eyes majority of the time. And her twin sister Nene, a girl with a sick and twisted sense of fun. It's almost scary how excited she gets when it comes to killing mobs. She always has a smile on, no matter what, in contrast to Ryo. Much like Ryo, she had straight brown hair that lead down to her shoulders, but hers was beautifully combed back. Outside of her brown eyes and different hairstyle, there really weren't any major differences in the twins faces. The easiest way to tell would be that Nene always wore a circlet on her head with an amethyst in the middle of it.<p>

Ryo and Nene wore interesting armor, things that most other girls in the game avoided for one reason or another. Ryo had on a purple tank top, that seemed to emphasize her breasts and cleavage, with yellow gauntlets and shoulder plates. She wore purple tights that if looked at from the right angle, could be see through straight to her underwear. The exotic clothing choice just called out to Ryo and she brandished it like it was always her style. Nene wore a yellow shirt that was protected by a purple colored breast plate, wrapped around her chest and shoulders. It provided as much defense without effecting maneuverability. She wore a matching yellow skirt that went just down to her mid thighs that would often flutter higher than wanted. A purple belt sat diagonally around her waist with a large buckle in the front. The thing that made the two unique was their identical rare drop weapons; double bladed pikes. The purple shaft of the weapons had two black grips on them for their hands. Above that, the two blades of the U-shaped pike were jagged and shaped for large amounts of damage. The only difference between the two identical weapons were the feathers that were hanging right underneath the blade. Ryo's feathers were white where as Nene's were black. Ryo's pike was named «Light's Might» and Nene's sister pike was called «Darkness Fright»

They had heard of a special room that held a rare weapon. All they had to do is get past the boss guarding it. That and find the room...

"Oh man, we've been wandering around these caves for three hours now. Where is this silly place." Nene cried out to her sister

"Maybe it's behind like a fake wall or something." Ryo offered as some form of idea. Nene looked at the walls and shrugged.

"Maybe. I guess we can try it. The wall should make a different sound right?" Nene spun her pike around and placed it gently on the wall as Ryo mimicked her movements and did the same on the adjacent wall. As the two girls walked down the dark dungeon the sound of grinding metal on rock echoed off in the distance. Small sparks came off of the wall from time to time and briefly illuminated their path a bit more. They pulled their weapons off the wall as the sound became to much.

"Oh Ryo, this isn't working. I'm starting to think this... this... meany face place doesn't even exist." Ryo walked over to her complaining sister.

"Look around, no monsters have popped. We're near the room." Nene looked around the cave walls. Something was off about the surrounding area. It felt different and Ryo was right.

"There!" Nene hopped over to a small ruby on the wall. As she touched the gem it warmed up and began to glow. Ryo stepped up next to Nene and the girls looked at the now separating wall. The rocks slid violently out of the way and opened up the room. Inside a massive wingless dragon's silhouette showed. As it's eyes opened up, an intense purple shined from them. It let out a loud howl and the torches in the room ignited burning brightly. The force from it's howl blew Nene and Ryo's hair all over. Nene couldn't figure out if she wanted to hold her skirt down or keep her hair neat. So she frantically shifted her hands from one location to the other. After the dragon stopped it's bellowing. Nene and Ryo grabbed each other tightly, screamed and ran down the hall, far away from the boss. They came to a stop, breathing heavily and doubled over.

"That... that thing was... massive." Ryo tried saying through her heavy breathing. Nene looked over to her.

"Why does it have to be a lizard? There so gross and slimy!" Ryo's head just shook in response.

"No, that was a dragon. Also lizards aren't slimy they're usually dry or have scales."

"Not now Ryo!" Nene's quick words made Ryo slightly chuckle and the two girls shared a laugh.

"Alright then, what should we do?" Ryo asked standing up and helping Nene to her feet.

"Well we could try to fight it, but odds are it's to tough for just us." The twins looked at each other and sighed, knowing that their adventure for today was for not.

"I guess we can just head home then." Walking down the halls the girls moral for the day had dropped, being in a group of only two had its downfalls when it came to sub-bosses. They could just barely handle some named monsters but when it came to most monsters with more than two bars of health forget it. The girls came to a quick halt after hearing a scream.

"What was that?" Ryo questioned the odd noise. Nene brandished a terrifying smile.

"That was the sound of somebody dieing. We should check it out." The two girls ran off down the corridor the soon found a group of people fighting, not monsters, but each other. Two men fought each other one on one furthest from them. One man with blond long hair and the other with spiky brown hair. Closer to them there were five fighters against two. It seemed the fight was frozen as the small girl had her hammer slammed hard into the ground and was shaking with tears in her eyes. No doubt she was the one that caused the scream as she took the life of somebody for the first time. Nene and Ryo came running quickly through the larger group and stood in between the five remaining fighters and the two others, weapons held out at each side.

"What are you all doing!?" Nene yelled out, her spear pointed at the five people.

"You know that if you kill in here you'll kill in real life right?" Ryo followed up with her spear pointed towards the unarmed muscular man.

"Maybe you should tell them that, they just killed one of our friends!" A guy stepped forward from the group, pointing his sword at the girl with the hammer. his long brown hair was easily the most noticeable thing about him as it went well down to his lower back.

"If you still want to fight then keep coming! I'll take you all out! But remember you brought this upon yourself!" The muscular man yelled back to him, holding a firm fighting stance.

"I think you should all settle down. It wont end well for any of you if we get involved." Ryo threatened the surrounding fighters.

"Oh please let us get involved, it's been a while since we've been able to kill." Nene followed up, leaving a terrified look on the larger groups faces. However it was not to the liking of the larger brawler.

"If you threaten my guild like these fools did then I'll take you down just like them. Nobody hurts my friends and lives. I suggest you choose a side or get out of here. Either way, if you want to live, stay out of my way!"

* * *

><p><strong>Ryo and Nene are fun new introductions yeah? But what will happen to them? Will Kaori ever be able to recover after killing a man for the first time at such a young age? I guess you have to keep reading to find out! <strong>

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